Certain compounds in the foods we eat can also help us stay healthy by bolstering our immune system and protecting our cells against cancer, among other benefits. Read on to find out how foods with flavonoids can help improve your health. Plus: Take our quiz to test your knowledge of fun food facts...

What Are Flavonoids?

Foods with flavonoids include mainly fruits and vegetables, but flavonoids are also found in seeds, nuts, flowers, green tea, pine bark and buckwheat.

The best sources of flavonoids are tea, apples, onions and red wine.

Citrus fruits are also a great source, supplying an abundance of flavonoids in the white material between the peel and the fruit.

There are more than 4,000 different known flavonoids, but only a few have been studied and researched for their potential benefits. These are:

How Do Flavonoids' Benefits Work?Now that we know where to find them, what do they do? Flavonoids' primary job is to give color to the fruits and vegetables that contain them.

They also act as powerful antioxidants, slowing the progression of oxidation to the skins and pulp of the fruits and vegetables.

In our bodies, these flavonoid antioxidants do the same thing by protecting our cell membranes from free radicals, which can cause irreversible damage and promote cancer.

Flavonoids have an anti-inflammatory effect as well, helping to ease pain, and are often used to treat back and leg pain.

Those suffering from arthritis can benefit from flavonoids as they provide pain relief from joint and muscle pain associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

Anti-inflammatories also help different types of skin conditions, ranging from the average bug bite to chronic skin conditions such as eczema.

Allergy and asthma sufferers will be happy to hear that flavonoids also help block the release of histamines during the allergic response.

Histamine is responsible for the watery eyes, runny nose, and congestion associated with different kinds of allergies, as well as the difficulty in breathing associated with asthma.

In addition to these benefits, flavonoids are being studied for their potential benefits in protecting against heart disease, cancer and stroke, as well as shielding the eyes from cataracts.

How Can I Make the Most Out of Flavonoids' Benefits?How do you know if you're getting enough foods with flavonoids in your everyday diet? A deficiency of flavonoids will cause you to bruise more easily. There are no RDAs for flavonoids, but recommended intakes are given as 500 mg 2-3 times per day.

Flavonoids should be taken at the same time as vitamin C because they help increase the absorption of this vitamin as well as prolong its effects.

Eating fruits and vegetables every day will easily supply the needed amounts of flavonoids each day, as well as supply the vitamin C. The USDA recommends consuming 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

How Much do You Know About Food?

You know that brownies taste better when they're just out of the oven and that cranberry sauce will taste bitter if you don't add enough sugar. But do you know who invented the brownie or how to select the ripest cranberries? Aside from knowing which foods you love to curl up with, how much do really know about the history and fun facts of your favorite foods? Find out now with our food facts quiz.